Lij Teodrose Fikremariam is the co-founder and former editor of the Ghion Journal. He is currently the chair of Ethiopians for Constitutional Monarchy. A published author and prolific writer, a once defense consultant was profoundly changed by a two year journey of hardship and struggle. Going from...

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By Lij Teodrose Fikremariam on January 26, 2018

Thought of the day. I often get ridiculed for criticizing Obama’s policies, his supporters always say “damn though, he is no longer in office, why are you so stuck on him Teodrose!” But then when I point out that the wealth gap increased between the uber rich and the rest of us and the fact that the earning power of the bottom 99% regressed under his watch, they quickly blame Bush for the decline of our nation. Let me put this in perspective, it is not OK to point out the malicious policies of a president who just left office last year but it is quite acceptable to blame a president that left office in nine years ago?

I don’t mean to be partisan about this because in truth all sides do this. Remember when Republicans were up in arms about Benghazi and the way American lives were needlessly lost at the US Embassy in Libya? Fast forward to the era of Trump and the American lives that were needlessly lost in Niger and all the sudden the same crowd that was chanting Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! are quiet as church mice.

These things don’t happen by happenstance, the media-politico complex has every intention of riling us up into angry discontent and perpetuating tribalism through ideology and identity. In this paradigm, we must find a way to disconnect and disavow corporate media and empower independent journalists. It is with this purpose in mind that the Daily Ghion Water presents news and notes from truly independent voices around the world.

America’s Road to Damascus

Remember when a ground invasion of a sovereign country—perpetrated by a NATO ally—would constitute a big story? Before Donald Trump, “Russiagate” and the mainstream media’s apparent obligation to cover every presidential tweet, Turkish planes bombing—and tanks rumbling through—Syria might’ve been real news. These days hardly anyone has the energy to care. No, Washington pols have been too busy misappropriating the poor, underpaid military to bolster their own narrative around the three-day government shutdown. Neither side comes up for air long enough to ask real questions about the mission and status of all those American soldiers and Marines still deployed in Syria—not all that far from the Turkish military incursion. [from Truthdig]

A Cult of Political Personalities

A lot of Berners still maintain the belief that the Democratic establishment sabotaged Sanders’ campaign because they were afraid of him, but that’s simply not true. Bernie is just one man; the establishment was never afraid of Bernie. They were afraid of you. They were afraid of the populist insurgency throwing an unapproved candidate in the path of the Anointed Queen Hillary despite being instructed by the mass media propaganda machine over and over again that they were not permitted to choose him. They were afraid of the people. And they should be. [from Caitlin Johnstone]

Two Minutes to Goodnight

“It’s always sobering to be reminded just how close humanity is to destroying itself with nuclear weapons,” noted Paul Kawika Martin, senior director for policy and political affairs at Peace Action. “The majority of the world is quite ready to live without the constant fear of nuclear war hanging over our heads, but the nuclear-armed nations of the world are acting like children who only follow the rules when the rules suit their perceived interests.” [from Common Dreams]

Self-Reporting and Sign of the Times

The roll-out of biometric-authenticated payments across Europe, in India, and in Mexico, is merely the latest example of the accelerating encroachment of biometrics into everyday life. Most national passports these days include biometric data. Driver licenses in the US (which serve as de facto ID cards) already have them or soon will. Meanwhile, millions — perhaps soon billions — of people have volunteered their digital fingerprints to log into their smartphones and other digital devices. In other words, people are already giving away their most private data to work, communicate, cross borders, or get on planes. [from Naked Capitalism]

When Convenience Becomes Shackles

What I find troubling about Amazon Go is how easily we are accepting our own loss of agency, in exchange for the vaunted goals of convenience and efficiency. It’s exactly the same relinquishment of agency demanded by Facebook’s News Feed — an opaque, data-driven platform that presumes to divine what we want to consume, independent of our own active participation in the preparation stage of that consumption. Instead of feeding us information, however, Amazon literally wants to feed us our groceries. Along the way, we lose the humans who, for millennia, have borne witness to our independent agency. [from John Battelle]

“Use this at Goldman Sachs and Earn Me Some Serious Tubmans”

This Day in History

2005 – Condoleezza Rice is appointed to the post of secretary of state. The post makes her the highest ranking African-American woman ever to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet. She then went on to endorse and push policies that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of brown people in the Middle East and “Africa”. Which proves that the elevation of tokens does not mean betterment for the rest of us.

Quote of the Day

“A witty saying proves nothing.” ~ Voltaire

Profiled This Day

Today’s profile picture is dedicated to immigrants, as in all of us. Whether you are a first generation immigrant like me, a 5th generation migrant from far off lands or even if you are native American, the truth is that all of us are byproducts of once wanderers who traveled far and wide. We came from one and then spread outward, so today’s picture is dedicated to the immigrant that resides in all of us. Contrary to the nattering of a nitwit in the District of Caligula, what made America great was and is the contributions of immigrants—the American dream lives through us.

The Ghion Journal is a reader and viewer funded endeavor. We disavow corporate contributions and depend only on the support of our audience to sustain us. The “contribute as you can” model was emulated from one of our favorite restaurants in Fort Collins Colorado called FoCo Cafe (read a business case for kindness). We thank you in advance for your kindness. Click HERE or on the picture below to contribute to our cause.

Lij Teodrose Fikremariam is the co-founder and former editor of the Ghion Journal. He is currently the chair of Ethiopians for Constitutional Monarchy. A published author and prolific writer, a once defense consultant was profoundly changed by a two year journey of hardship and struggle. Going from a life of upper-middle class privilege to a time spent with the huddled masses taught Teodrose a valuable lesson in the essence of togetherness and the need to speak against injustice.

Originally from Ethiopia with roots to Atse Tewodros II, Lij Teodrose is a former community organizer whose writing was incorporated into Barack Obama's South Carolina primary victory speech in 2008. He pivoted away from politics and decided to stand for collective justice after experiencing the reality of the forgotten masses. His writing defies conventional wisdom and challenges readers to look outside the constraints of labels and ideologies that serve to splinter the people. Lij Teodrose uses his pen to give a voice to the voiceless and to speak truth to power.